Up on the housetop reindeer pause, out jumps good ole'...

Santa Clause!

Naughty?  Or nice?

Happy Birthday, DJ!

Phew, lots of birthdays this month! Evan's good buddy, DJ, turns 5 at the end of December, but in order to have the party at the Gymnastics Center his mom had to schedule it a bit early.  

Ball toss on the balance beam.

Jumping into the foam pit.

Opening the present from Evan.

Blowing out the candles!

Happy Birthday, DJ!

Evan the Artist

Our family photo for the year.  Isn't this great?  I don't think any of us have had hair or noses before - and he even gave me blue eyes!  This kid is my new favorite artists.  Eat your heart out, Maxfield Parrish.

Here are the two new beautiful paintings I had commissioned this week. When hung like this they remind me of a moon rising over a field. Evan painted these for me at ArtReach while I was writing thank you notes.  They are on actual canvas and he even remembered to paint the sides!  What a guy.

I bought a new camera (finally) on Black Friday this year.  I've been playing around with it all week, albeit it quite ungracefully.  I think its going to take me quite some time to get all of the settings right.

Still playing with the camera...

Evan no longer fits in a Tupperware box.

Yep, still playing.

Playing with the camera settings at the Holiday Stroll.

Red Wing Trolley

Happy Birthday, Emma (5) & Maddy (3)!

Princess Emma (Snow White) and Evan.  Evan made sure to let Emma know that she was dressed like a Queen and not a Princess - because "Princesses don't wear crowns until they get married.  Princesses wear pointy hats until they get saved by a prince."  

Painting an adorable little wooden step stool as a party favor!

Balloon Race!

The Birthday Girls!

Marley with his Uncle Chad and Jezebel the dog.

Up the nose kiss!

"Surprise!"

What Evan wants (more than anything!) for Christmas

Evan-ism from yesterday:

Evan: "Mom! Its almost Chicken Celebration Day! I'm so excited!"

Me: "Chicken Celebration Day? Is that something for school?"

Evan: (sigh) "No, mom. Its the holiday in between Halloween and Christmas, silly."

Speaking of Christmas...can you tell from the picture below what Evan wants (more than anything!) from Santa this year?

That would be a remote-controlled car (with an antennae off the back) and a remote with buttons to drive it.  Isn't it amazing when all of a sudden your child switches from drawing scribbles to actually discernible pictures?  Amazing.  (Although, sometimes, I admit, they are only discernible to me!)

Boo!

He steals candy from the rich...

Happy Halloween!

Carving pumpkins ~

Happ-E-Hill Pumpkin Farm 2011

Katie, Noah, and Dawson joined us for our annual trip to the pumpkin patch this year.  It was a beautiful day but REALLY windy!  We had a blast anyway, of course.

Evan and his friend, Sam, from school.  We just happened to find each other on our way out the gate. It was great timing because Evan wasn't ready to go home, yet. The boys played for hours after Noah and Dawson left. 

Happy 3rd Birthday, Jonathan!

Concentrating very hard on painting a train!

Evan was pretty excited when he won the clothespin drop game!

Poor Marley...or Maxton. (?)  Not sure which twin this is!  They are both so cute!

Back to school!

Evan's first day at Sunshine Corner was on September 13. He was so excited that when I came over to give him a hug goodbye he said "are you still here? I thought you left." and when I asked for a hug he said "Mom! I already gave you one. I'm busy paying with my new friends!" I am so excited that he loves his new school! (And he gave me another big hug anyway.)

My friend Tonya's little girl, Kylie, is in class with Evan (center). Kylie was born in the room next to us in the hospital. Tonya was in labor with Kylie at the same time I was, but Evan arrived on the 27th around 9pm, and Kylie arrived the next day. She is so cute!

We celebrated Evan's first day at his new school by going out to eat for dinner.  What did Evan pick?  SUSHI!  He loves California and avocado rolls.  

An Evan-ism from September 6:

Me: "What happened to your face? Its all red and splotchy."
Evan: "I dunno. I think I have red splotch disease."
Me: "Oh, really? How did you catch that?"
Evan: "I caught it from you, because you kiss me all the time. You really need to stop doing that."

And one from the same day!
Evan: "It's hotter than p*ss b*lls out here!"
Me: "What did you say???"
Evan: "It's hotter than p*ss b*lls."
Me: "I think you mean 'It's hotter than a PISTOL out here'."
Evan: "Oh, yeah, that's right. Hotter than a pistol. Thanks, mom."

Renaissance Festival

We headed to the Renaissance Fest with my dear friend, Heather, back in September.  It was a beautiful day and we had a blast!

In a moment of extreme weakness, I bought Evan a wooden sword.  What was I thinking?  That was so unlike me, but he has been really gentle with it...with the exception of the first few minutes when he showed me his "moves."

When we got home we made a crown out of pipe cleaners and Evan went on an expidition.  He drew out a treasure map and packed his backpack full of treasure hunting items (like a magic wand and "nocculars.")

Evan-isms

October 4 (VERBATIM):
Me: "Wanna go for a walk?"
Evan: "Actually, that would be a good idea. I need to get my blood pressure up. My blood pressure pumps my blood into my lungs and I need some more of that today.

October 18:
Evan: "Wow, mom. You are getting really OLD."
Me: "Yep, well, each year we all get a little older."
Evan: "No, mom. I mean you are REALLY getting old. Even your feet are all wrinkly like a grandma's."